Show HN: Say Less – AI summarization tool in the Gmail compose window
1–10 of 58 posts
Re: Show HN: Say Less – AI summarization tool in the Gmail compose window
#2I'm reminded of the recent post on HN showing that long, personalized emails reduced email conversions, and that short, pinpointed emails increased conversion. Long emails give the impression that one is either a program or desperate, and no one takes the time to read the entirety of every email they receive.
Re: Show HN: Say Less – AI summarization tool in the Gmail compose window
#3I've never written an email that was too long and then later realized it should have been way more concise. I generally know my intentions prior to writing the email, so if it needs to be short, I'll write it short. The reverse situation probably happens more often though (i.e I write a short email, realize it doesn't make sense due to lack of details, then I elaborate).
Re: Show HN: Say Less – AI summarization tool in the Gmail compose window
#4I'm reminded of the recent post on HN showing that long, personalized emails reduced email conversions, and that short, pinpointed emails increased conversion. Long emails give the impression that one is either a program or desperate, and no one takes the time to read the entirety of every email they receive.
Author here.
If you're talking about https://www.gkogan.co/blog/increase-reply-rates/, this was a primary inspiration for this project -- I even stole the name ;)
Re: Show HN: Say Less – AI summarization tool in the Gmail compose window
#5I've never written an email that was too long and then later realized it should have been way more concise. I generally know my intentions prior to writing the email, so if it needs to be short, I'll write it short. The reverse situation probably happens more often though (i.e I write a short email, realize it doesn't make sense due to lack of details, then I elaborate).
Interesting. I have a different experience than you -- I often find myself writing an email that's way too long and trimming it down later.
For the design of this tool, it was important for me to "not get in the way" if you're already writing a short email. That's why I designed the widget so that it will only appear in your gmail window if you go over 100 words. It can serve solely as a "reminder" for the rare cases you might go over... almost like a training to help you form short email habits over time.
Re: Show HN: Say Less – AI summarization tool in the Gmail compose window
#6I've never written an email that was too long and then later realized it should have been way more concise. I generally know my intentions prior to writing the email, so if it needs to be short, I'll write it short. The reverse situation probably happens more often though (i.e I write a short email, realize it doesn't make sense due to lack of details, then I elaborate).
> I've never written an email that was too long and then later realized it should have been way more concise.
I kind of think we'd have to poll the recipients, not the author, for that sort of analysis.
I find myself trimming down lengthy emails frequently. Not because the information is excessive or irrelevant, but because I know most people in most contexts tend to not read or engage with lengthy emails. Myself included.
Re: Show HN: Say Less – AI summarization tool in the Gmail compose window
#7What about Read Less?
Would be cool to use this tool to read less of incoming email and then dig deeper if I think it's worth it.
Re: Show HN: Say Less – AI summarization tool in the Gmail compose window
#8I've never written an email that was too long and then later realized it should have been way more concise. I generally know my intentions prior to writing the email, so if it needs to be short, I'll write it short. The reverse situation probably happens more often though (i.e I write a short email, realize it doesn't make sense due to lack of details, then I elaborate).
I intentionally write short, concise emails.
It has actually backfired on me in the past: because I didn't define and explain the entire space of the matter at hand, I was overcome by other arguments or ideas that I'd already considered and dismissed. That led to followup discussions that didn't need to occur.
It seems that context matters, sometimes long-form is better.
Re: Show HN: Say Less – AI summarization tool in the Gmail compose window
#9What about Read Less? Would be cool to use this tool to read less of incoming email and then dig deeper if I think it's worth it.
I love how you flipped that so quickly, and it immediately sounds more useful to me!
Re: Show HN: Say Less – AI summarization tool in the Gmail compose window
#10What about Read Less? Would be cool to use this tool to read less of incoming email and then dig deeper if I think it's worth it.
When I was researching this product area, I found a bunch of similar tools that summarized on the inbound side. I thought it would be more interesting to experiment on the outbound side as the main initial focus, which I haven't seen.
I do have a generic popup that you can to summarize any passage, so you could copy-paste some long passage (email, article) to piggy back on the functionality. But it isn't tightly integrated into the Gmail UI as of now.